DURHAM — Following a roughly 10-year trend of declining enrollment for the district as a whole, Oyster River Cooperative School District officials are looking at the possibility of enrolling additional tuition students at the high school.

The district has reported a decrease in enrollment numbers from about 2,400 or 2,500 over the years to 2,000.

High School Principal Todd Allen said that as enrollment numbers decline, particularly at the high school level, it becomes more difficult to maintain desired programs with fewer students since the per pupil cost gets higher.

He explained the high school has taken students from Barrington, one of the three towns that may possibly enter into negotiations with ORCSD, in small numbers for the last five years. Currently there are 64 Barrington students attending the high school.

“What we're looking at is a more long-term, exclusive arrangement with another town so it's a more dependable number,” he said, which would make it easier to plan budgetarily.

Deerfield, whose high school students currently attend Concord High School, and Newmarket, a school district faced with a looming decision of whether to build a brand new junior/senior high school in order to address safety concerns at the current facility, are the other two towns considering sending students to ORHS.

Allen said it is too early yet for the district to be acting on anything and will do so once voters from Deerfield, Barrington and Newmarket decide whether to enter into negotiations with ORCSD.

Deerfield has three options for its high school students — Concord High School, Pembroke Academy and ORHS.

Allen said ORHS may be desirable to voters since Concord High School is a much larger and more urban community than what students are used to.

Deerfield has a 20-year contract with Concord that does not expire completely until 2025, he explained. However, at the mid point of that contract, which is where the district is currently, they have an “opt out” clause that allows them to go somewhere else if they can.

Barrington has the options of Coe Brown Academy, Dover High School and ORHS.

Allen said one reason Barrington may find ORHS as the right choice is rising tuition fees with their other options, such as Dover.

Newmarket is to decide the economic practicality of constructing a new building for its students, a cost Allen said is around the $40 million range, versus sending students to ORHS.

“It's a pretty major price tag,” he said.

He also said the two communities are already linked in many ways, including recreational activities students from each town participate in.

Newmarket school warrant article 12 reads: “To see if the residents of the community desire the school board to enter into a non binding discussion with the ORCSD to consider jointly serving grades 9-12 and to provide a report to the community by 2014.”

Though the process is still very theoretical, Allen said, the goal is for the three towns to narrow their choices, and then if pursuing ORCSD, begin negotiating a specific agreement.

“Our thought is if we can come up with a long-term agreement with somebody it would help stabilize our enrollment,” Allen said.

“Once they decide that they want to pursue us as a specific option, we can sit down and talk about the exact terms of the agreement,” he continued.

The ORCSD community will also have the option of whether this is even a route they wish to take should a town choose to send their students to the high school. Allen said the community may decide that they are happy with a smaller enrollment number and fewer programs.

“I think people in general recognize the need to do something with tuition students to expand revenues,” he said.

While he said he is very confident that at least one town will choose ORHS, there is the possibility that no one will, or that a combination of tuition students from more than one of the towns may enroll.

“I'm confident that there's enough kids out there that need to go to high school that we can continue to take in tuition students,” he said.